Apple iTV is No. 1 according to Strategy Analytics - Apple's Blue Crush on Netflix for TV-Anywhere

All this news about IPTV Streaming has got me all hopped up on the subject. So it comes as little surprise as the General Election draws nigh on Thursday December 29^th 2011 as noted in the winding down of Campaign activities in the article “Last lap - JLP, PNP wrap up campaigning”, published Wednesday, December 28, 2011, The Jamaica Observer that IPTV is again on my mind.

The Intense Television Jamaica personality Pepita Little may have staged a fight to defect to a  higher paying job at LIME TV like Ragashanti as noted in the article “Ragashanti returns on Lime Mobile TV”, published July 14 2011, the Jamaica Star is part of the reason why my gaze is yet again cast at IPTV Streaming in Jamaica. The Telecom Providers are now ramping up the build-out of their Wireless and Wired Broadband Internet Services both in Jamaica and Caribbean-wide.

Wireless Broadband Services based on HSDPA+ Release 7 (High Speed Downlink Packet Access Plus) Network with speeds in the 10MBps best effort range and faster is thus on the cards for December 2012AD.

Thus, being young, she may be a part of Telecom Provider LIME’s soon-to-be launched IPTV Streaming Platform in partnership with Avail-TVN powered by Juniper Networks as prognosticated in my blog article entitled “LIME chooses Juniper Networks to rebroadcast Avail-TVN's Content - Pepita Little's Ghostbusters to capture Media Personalities” where she would make mucho dinero as the host of a show she would basically OWN.

Wouldn’t be strange for Telecom Provider LIME to bet so heavily on a young star or even on the concept of Jamaicans paying for Wireless broadband just to watch Cable TV anywhere, anytime on any device, basically a foreshadowing of the “TV Anywhere” concept! 

So it should come as no surprise that deceased Apple CEO Steve Job’s “Hobby”, the US$99 Apple iTV is now No. 1 dog in town in the nascent IPTV Streaming Set Top box race according to analyst Strategy Analytics in the article “Strategy Analytics: Apple TV now leads set-top boxes”, published December 13, 2011 By Geoff Duncan, DigitalTrends. The US$49 Roku Box occupies a close second place according to Strategy Analytics.

The rather reliable analyst's results paint an interesting picture of Apple’s oft neglected device which Strategy Analytics senior analyst Jia Wu quantifies by saying “Apple is leading this nascent market, which it still considers a ‘hobby’”.

The Statistics as usual tell their own story:

1.      The US market is now 12 (12,000,000) million units strong

2.      It is dominated mainly by Apple iTV, which has 33% of the market or four million (4,000,000) Apple iTV units

3.      8% of households have an Apple iTV, a mite bit better than the EU which has 7% adoption of IPTV

4.      30% percent of Apple TV owners rented movies or TV shows (Netflix!!?)

That last bit is telling of the power of movies and television services provided by Netflix, the main draw of the Apple iTV, which I also had high hopes for in my blog article entitled “Apple and the iTV - Back to the future”.

Apple’s iTunes service doesn’t feature heavily in the popularity and success of the of the Apple’s “hobby” Set top Box, but instead indicates the popularity of Netflix, which is set to come to Jamaica and the Caribbean as noted in my blog article entitled “LIME chooses Juniper Networks to rebroadcast Avail-TVN's Content - Pepita Little's Ghostbusters to capture Media Personalities”.

Indeed, Netflix may actually make Triple Play Provider FLOW Extinct, despite FLOW’s push towards the same concept of “TV-Anywhere” and even 3D HDTV as note in my geezam blog article entitled “FLOW goes 3D HDTV et al – Netflix to make FLOW Extinct”.

So an Apple Television Set as I had prognosticated in detail with all my wishes and dreams in BOTH my blog article entitled “Apple Television Set, a docking cradle for the Apple iTV - Super 8 A Gift for Christmas” and my Geezam blog article entitled “Web-enabled Television Sets Sales Rise – The Apple Television cometh” is very possible. 

Albeit in a size less than 40” seems a tad unlikely as postulated in the article “Rumor: Apple iTV on track for 2012 Q2-Q3 release”, published December 27, 2011 By Molly McHugh, DigitalTrends but possible as the Apple iMac, on which my concepts is based, is a 27” neo-retina display that can be a shell with a docking cradle for the obviously now popular Apple iTV.

Ultimately a good mix of the two (2) i.e. compelling specs that are intuitive and easy to use and content available anytime, anyplace and on any device, basically the “TV anywhere” concept as opined in the article “Apple iTV: It’s about the experience, not content”, published December 28, 2011, 11:42am PT By Ryan Lawler, GigaOM and the article “Analyst: Device and content choice key to Apple iTV success”, published Dec. 28, 2011, 9:36am PT By Darrell Etherington, GigaOM will make the supposedly soon-to-be-launched Apple Television Set a success in an otherwise already crowded Internet Television market.

A bold move for Apple this would be, from the small swimming pond of IPTV Streaming devices to the crowded market of high-end Television Sets bristling with features and already sporting Netflix support (get it!! Sport! The main reason for having Netflix!!). This folks is Apple’s Blue Crush (2002) on Netflix!

But back to Jamaica and the Caribbean at large as Barbados is also a part of this grand experiment by Telecom Provider LIME. IPTV Streaming is indeed a good gamble for Telecom Provider Apple after the spectacular success of LIME TV combined with the intoxicating powder keg of rumours swirling about of the impending coming of an Apple Television Set or “TV” as the Americans call it.

If the popularity of IPTV Streaming catches on in Jamaica as Wireless and Wired Internet expends, propelled by the very popular Intense “Chica” Pepita Little really going to Telecom Provider LIME, we may be witness to the birth of Jamaica’s and the Caribbean’s  first IPTV Streaming Star.